Welcome to Season 2 of our Special Hospitality Series in collaboration with Forbes Travel Guide, the global authority on luxury hospitality.
In this season, we take you behind the scenes of Forbes Travel Guide 'The Summit' in Monaco—their first-ever international event. With over 750 attendees from 90+ countries, this prestigious event drew a global audience for learning, collaboration, and celebrating excellence in luxury hospitality, which featured main stage talks, exclusive sessions, and even the presence of His Serene Highness Prince Albert II.
This season’s theme, “The Leaders Behind the Stars,” introduces you to 10 visionary leaders shaping the future of luxury hospitality. From their passion and innovation to the relentless pursuit of five-star excellence, we’re bringing you inspiring stories from Italy, France, Beverly Hills, the Seychelles, and more.
In our first episode we are joined by Malcolm Hendry, Managing Director of Hotel 41, The Rubens at the Palace, and 100 Princes Street, who shares his incredible journey to earning his first Forbes Travel Guide’s coveted five-star rating and how they have maintained that status for nine consecutive years. Discover how he rallied his team after narrowly missing the mark on the first attempt and built a culture of excellence that defines Red Carnation Hotels.
From pioneering sustainability efforts such as the living wall at Rubens to recommending local authentic experiences like Borough Market tours, Malcolm reveals the secrets behind creating unforgettable guest moments. Learn how Red Carnation Hotel's leadership team fosters happiness and staff loyalty, with many team members staying for over two decades.
This discussion is filled with valuable insights on luxury hospitality trends and Malcolm’s tips for aspiring hoteliers—all delivered with his signature charm (and a memorable kilt story straight from Monaco!).
We will be releasing new episodes every Thursday—don’t miss this exceptional 10-part series featuring hospitality leaders from Beverly Hills to the Seychelles.
Season 5 Launched Jan 15th. New Episodes Every Weds! Check out our first 4 Seasons.
https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
The diversity of person you meet, including the
luxury travel advisors and thegeneral managers from around the
globe.
You know it's unique, it's agreat opportunity.
It's very inspirational.
You know I get to come out hereand have that.
It's great and I do take theinspiration back the inspiration
(00:26):
back.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hello everyone and welcome to season two of our
special hospitality series inpartnership with our friends at
Forbes Travel Guide.
As many of our listeners know,we had the privilege to attend
our very first the Summit in LasVegas last year.
We recorded a first season tobring our listeners behind the
scenes insights, expertinterviews and really do a deep
dive into what makes luxuryhospitality so extraordinary.
We had an exceptional responseto that first season and we were
(00:47):
thrilled and honored to beinvited back for the summit in
Monaco, which is the very firstinternational event for the
Forbes Travel Guide team.
But just to make sure thateverybody knows who Forbes
Travel Guide are they are theglobal authority on luxury
hospitality and theirprestigious star rating system
and expert recommendations arewhat really set the standard for
(01:07):
excellence in the industry.
So it's a huge honor for us topartner with them and also to be
at the summit, their annualevent and this time the first
debut internationally whichbrings together the best in the
business to share theirknowledge, and that's certainly
what I had the chance to see andexperience.
There was over 750 attendeesfrom more than 90 countries and
(01:28):
over the three days it was allabout learning and connection
and collaborating with reallythe world's best.
There was main stage talks andexclusive breakout sessions and,
of course, the historicpresence of His Serene Highness
Prince Albert II, who attendedall three days, which, from my
perspective, the summit reallyestablished itself as the
centerpiece for global luxuryhospitality and, excitingly,
(01:52):
they also announced at the endof the event that we're going
back to Monaco in 2026.
So it was a perfect place forthis event to come together, and
it wasn't just aboutcelebrating the achievements and
discussing the future of luxuryhospitality.
It was really about immersingyourself in the world of luxury
hospitality.
So anyone who is in theindustry or an avid traveler or
(02:14):
curious about how these amazingproperties offer this top tier
service, I think these episodeswill bring you invaluable
insights and a lot ofinspiration.
Interestingly for this year,this was the first time that
European hotels led the way inthe number of new five-star
properties, and you're actuallygoing to get to hear from a few
of those hotels on this series.
(02:36):
Now it's important to understandhow difficult it actually is to
achieve a five-star rating, butreally any place on the Forbes
Travel Guide star-rated list,whether it's recommended four
stars or the pinnacle being fivestars not only do you have to
achieve that extraordinaryaccomplishment.
You need to maintain it yearafter year.
So they are not easily earned,but maintaining them gets harder
(02:58):
and harder every year, andthat's actually why they have a
partnership with the Academy,which is separate to Forbes
Travel Guide, but for thelearning and development service
they have exclusive rights fromthe Forbes Travel Guide
official star rating standards,and it's another way that I
discovered how these incredibleproperties are able to improve
their level of service to thepoint where they create raving
(03:20):
fans and people coming back totheir property.
So there is a tremendousbenefit of being associated with
Forbes Travel Guide and toachieve that status and ranking,
but there's also a huge benefitto going on that journey to
improve the guest experience attheir properties.
That will ultimately lead tomore delighted guests and them
coming back again and again.
Now for season two, we're goingto introduce you to the leaders
(03:43):
behind the stars.
That's the theme for our secondseason, and these are the
visionaries from the world'sfinest properties who embody
everything it takes to deliver aworld-class experience.
There are going to be 10inspiring episodes as we bring
you some of the brightest mindsshaping this industry.
We're going to talk about theirpassion, their resilience and
the innovation behind theirjourneys.
(04:03):
We're going to be speaking tohoteliers from Italy, france,
beverly Hills and the Seychelles.
We're actually going to starttoday, though, with a dear
friend of mine who is based inLondon, but he is Scottish, and
very proudly so.
For those of you who haven'talready seen the cover of this
episode, you have to check itout, because we made a
(04:23):
commitment that we were going tocapture a photo of us together
at the gala dinner that night,where Malcolm was going to be
wearing his Scottish kilt and helooks fantastic, as you'll see
and he was so excited to be ableto wear it in Monaco for the
very first time.
Now Malcolm is the managingdirector of Hotel 41 and the
Rubens at the Palace, which arepart of the Red Carnation Hotel
(04:44):
Collection.
He also oversees a new propertyin Edinburgh that we'll discuss
as well, but he has aremarkable story to tell about
his journey to become a ForbesTravel Guide five-star property,
and I had the opportunity tosit down with him last year in
Las Vegas, but we had a coupleof technical issues, so this is
(05:04):
the first opportunity that wehad then to recapture the moment
, and that's why this episode isso special for me and one of
the reasons that we're leadingoff with this.
Malcolm is an extraordinaryindividual.
As you'll hear, he's a greatdad, a terrific business leader,
and I couldn't be more thrilledto bring this discussion
together.
Thank you, malcolm, for beinghere with us, and I look forward
(05:24):
to sharing your story.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Wow, thank you very much.
What an introduction.
Thank you, dan.
It's been a short year betweenLas Vegas and here we are in
Monaco, so it's different toVegas.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Well, let me set the stage for our listeners, because
this is where I wanted toacknowledge our previous
conversation and actually diveright into the fact that you you
inspired me last year with yourstory about the fact that,
unlike any of the otherproperties within the
Recarnation Group, you went toyour boss, jonathan Raggett, who
we both know, and said to himthat you needed to be Forbes
(05:57):
travel guide rated, and you wenton a journey to get there and
have seen such success as aresult of that, and this is the
big conference you come to.
So let's go back to that so allof our listeners can understand
your journey.
So tell us, I guess, first ofall, for those of our listeners
that are not familiar with RedCarnation Hotels or doesn't know
Rubens or the fact that Hotel41 is like the number one hotel
(06:17):
on TripAdvisor every year, telleveryone about the properties
that you oversee.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
So I'm very privileged to be looking after
two of our London properties onBuckingham Palace Road, just by
Buckingham Palace the Rubens atthe Palace aptly named and Hotel
41 at 41 Buckingham Palace Road.
And also, most recently, weopened in April 17 last year our
first and only Scottish hotelin Edinburgh, 100 Princess
(06:49):
Street.
That was open, had an excellentfirst year of operation and we
have an anniversary this comingApril.
So looking forward to that, andagain, it's a pleasure and a
privilege to be back home in myhome country after 31 years away
.
For sure, as a London boy, Iget to go back for a short
journey every three, four weeksjust to see the team and look
after my responsibilities.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, no, it's well-deserved advancement for
you and I guess that's where foreveryone that could listen and
learn from you in thisdiscussion.
Tell everyone how long you'vebeen managing the Rubens now and
your introduction, if you will,to hospitality.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, so I started Red Carnation Hotels.
It'll be my 25 year anniversarythis year on June the 10th.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Congratulations.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And yeah, that was 2000.
I started at the Rubens asdeputy manager in May of 2001.
And was promoted to generalmanager there in August of 2004.
So really I was general managerfor about 18 years and then
managing director in my currentposition for two years this year
(07:53):
.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
That's amazing.
Well, and just for ourlisteners too, I had the great
fortune to work with both BrettTolman and Jonathan Raggett for
many years, and Jonathan Raggettfor many years Brett Solman, of
course, the CEO and chairman ofthe travel corporation, the red
carnation hotel chain beingcreated by his uh, his father
and his mother, and I guessthat's where you know there's a
strong family connection.
And when we would, I would uh,visit London quite often, it was
(08:16):
really a home away from homeand seeing you quite regularly
throughout the year, which iswhy I think we have such a
strong bond and kinship.
We'd have dinner together andoften, sometimes Brett would be
there, jonathan would pop in,and I still remember when your
son, jake, was born.
He's now 12, 13.
Yeah, he's 12.
(08:36):
Yeah, and it's um, you know I,just our kids are 17.
So I was just ahead of you thenand um, and and able to impart
some some fatherly advice at thetime.
But, yeah, you and I havealways had such a, I guess, a
strong bond.
But I and this is where Ididn't know until we sat down
last year at Vegas your story inconnection with Forbes travel
guides all of a sudden, I'msitting on the other side of the
table from you interviewing you, and I actually wanted you to
share that story with all of ourlisteners so they can hear it
(08:56):
from you directly.
So take us on that journeyagain of how you decided to
become Forbes travel guide ratedand ultimately twisted
Jonathan's arm enough to let himgive you this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Well, I mean, we talked a lot about, you know,
forbes Travel Guide and, youknow, becoming an aspirational,
you know, forbes five-star hotel.
We had been talking at thegeneral manager's level with Mr
Ragged various meetings aboutthe properties in London and
there was only a handful at thetime, certainly.
So it was very much recognisedas the top industry award and
really it's sort of borne out ofthat.
(09:27):
And I have a previousrelationship through another
source of travel with ChrisFradden now who heads up Europe
and EMA and everything that he'snow responsible for also half
the world, and we met in Hotel41 and he just started before
Travel Guide and he just talkeda little bit about you know
(09:50):
their vision, their standards,the service excellence.
You know commitment to.
You know guest engagement, youknow team engagement and he just
I remember straight away youknow, in our first meeting
talking about Forza Chris, thatyou away.
You know, in that first meetingtalking about Forza Chris, that
you know it really did alignwith everything that you know,
red Carnation, uh, the Tolmanfamily, mr Raggett and myself
(10:10):
all believe in.
You know, uh, the the, theexperience of of a guest in a
hotel, the experience of a teammember in the hotel, the
importance of you know your teamand and how, the importance of
them engaging with guests andlikewise guests engaging with
them.
So there was a great alignmentI thought with for travel guide
and what they believed was youknow that true service
(10:31):
experience and excellence andwhat we in red carnation and I
went to mr racket and and uhsaid we'd like to do it and and
uh, you know he, he agreed we'llleave it at that.
He agreed and and and I just gosmall feet, he's a great leader
, and but he expects um.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
He expects a lot right.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, he definitely.
Uh, I had to make various uhcommitments to um, not come back
with anything other than thefive star.
We'll, Thankfully, you know,with a fair wind and a lot of
hard work from the team andconsistency and, you know,
bringing a lot of you know whatForbes and Red Carnation believe
to be that experience of aguest engagement to bring it
(11:13):
into our culture.
We were successful and as westand here, this is we're nine
years a Forbes five-star hoteland, you know, super proud.
You know, and I genuinely Ireally do think it's a I come
back to that word privilege toattend the Forbes Summit and
(11:35):
it's one of the highlights of myyear.
I really enjoy the diversity of,you know, hotelier that comes
from all around the world toattend the unbelievable
properties and, you know, andnow the Forbes Travel Guide has
started to bring those 80 luxurytravel advisors attending.
(11:55):
So it puts a different angle topart of the summit as well, and
it's a great thing about Forbesthey are constantly developing,
constantly pushing theboundaries, making the summit
better every year and even thisyear actually moving out of
America for the first time toMonaco, unlocking the
opportunity for more people toattend and also to be in a
(12:18):
different part of the world andyou think a little bit different
in some ways as well, so it'sbrilliant.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Remind everyone how long it took you to get your
certification, initially yourForbes five-star.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Well, it's incredibly tough to be a Forbes five-star.
Well, it's really it'sincredibly tough to be a Forbes
five-star hotel, and I did makethe commitment that we would
nail it first year round and wenarrowly avoided it.
So it's just part of ourhistory, but I do, looking back
at that time, truly believe thatstrengthened our resolve to
(12:50):
come back and we narrowly missedit by a few decimal points of
the 90% we need to come back andwe narrowly missed it by a few
decimal points of the 90% weneed to achieve it.
And you know, I think thatdoing that strengthened our
resolve to shore up a lot ofwhat we were being judged on and
made us stronger for the future.
And then we did achieve it thefollowing year.
I believe we were in a betterplace then than we would have
(13:13):
been had it first time round,for sure Hit the money yeah.
Thanks for reminding me.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Well, there's a specific reason that I wanted to
jog your memory on.
That is because a few of theguests that we're having on this
year's season two of thespecial hospitality series in
partnership with Forbes, there'sa couple of hotels that have
achieved that in their firstyear and which is truly
remarkable when that actuallydoes happen.
But obviously, it's one thingto get your certification and
it's another thing to keep it,and so, um, as you've already
(13:44):
highlighted, you've had thecertification now for nine years
and you have to maintain thatexcellence.
So it's not something that,once you get that badge of honor
and certain properties losetheir status if they're not
meeting those expectations.
So it's, um, and this is whereI wanted to go with the next
question for you.
Is that, given your backgroundand experience, both with
pushing ahead with getting thecertification and going on that
journey, and then now sittinghere nearly a decade later,
(14:05):
having benefited from theassociation?
And one of the things you calledout for me that I've referenced
in other interviews too is thefact that, beyond the benefit of
being able to generateadditional business by being
Forbes travel guide five-starrated, is that it actually you
use the example there of how italigned with red carnations,
view of excellence, of valuesand and your commitment to
(14:33):
excellence and tiny, noticeabletouches and the things that are
so special and beautiful aboutred carnation hotels, as I've
come to know for many yearsincluding, you know, mr tolman
always having the red carnationin his lapel and um, many of the
magical things that you guys dothere.
I guess tell us some of thetips and suggestions that you
would have for other peoplelistening to this that are about
to start their journey.
What are some of the things youwould say that they need to be
paying attention to and aware of, for from your expertise, gosh,
(14:56):
big, big, big question.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I could probably talk for a long time on it, but in
in sort of summary, I think theum, the attention to detail is
important.
You know the small touches,whether it be positive, tiny,
noticeable touches or just thesmall detail of your, your
service, offering your, yourproducts.
Really important, uh, uniformstandards, um, you know a lot of
(15:18):
it is is getting the culture ofthe hotel right, uh, and
getting everyone along on thejourney with you.
Get everyone to believe thatthat you know, they understand,
you know what we need to bedoing for our guests, for our
team members, to be on thatjourney and be on that journey
daily.
I think that it's not somethingyou can pick up and put down.
(15:42):
There's got to be a big desirefor the team, the manager, so
myself and the senior team havegot to be driving those
standards, and it really does.
(16:03):
You know it starts at the top,but it's a consistently every
day.
Every day, you just arereinforcing and in a positive
way, uh, and you leave nothing,nothing to chance.
You know you're, you'rechecking everything, uh, you're
measuring everything, you'refacing up to things when they're
(16:23):
not right.
You're trying to understand andwhy, and and put them right and
, uh, you listen to your guestsmost definitely.
You listen to your guests Mostdefinitely.
You listen to your guests andyou pay attention and reasons
and really promote all thepositives of engaging with
guests and the face-to-face andthe conversational and how
(16:44):
important and unique guests areand everyone is an individual
your team members and yourguests.
And, yeah, it's developing theright positive culture.
Yeah, that enforces thestandards.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
So, given all of that and how red carnation has grown
as a luxury boutique four andfive star hotel collection of
properties globally and you knowyou have Asher Castle in
Ireland.
Of course you mentionedprincess street, which is
obviously new in Scotland.
I'm so thrilled that you'reoverseeing that.
(17:17):
You've got a Kedra in Botswana,you've got multiple properties
in South Africa and obviously inGeneva as well, and I've had
the privilege and good fortuneover many years to not only stay
with you many times but also tostay at other Red Carnation
hotels both in South Africa andIreland.
And I guess one thing I wantedto ask you about that is that
has the work at Ford TravelGuide impacted other areas of
the business?
Because I'm assuming you asgeneral managers work very
closely together and there's abit of competition amongst you.
(17:39):
I know you've got a friendlyrivalry, but there is a culture
of excellence at Red Carnationwith, certainly with with
Jonathan and the Tolman family,um, and so I guess what I'm
getting to is is there elementsof what you've succeeded with
with the Forbes that you'vebrought in to Rubens and 41,
that you have to take a bunch ofstandards, measurements that
(17:59):
forbes say and and give them tored carnation hotels and say
this is new because a lot ofwhat forbes really, if you look
at this and you know redcarnation hotels were doing, you
(18:26):
know a lot of.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
That's why I was so excited about, you know, looking
for these five star awards andbeing coming, becoming involved.
Of course, a lot of what theywere saying was important we
were doing anyway.
So there was, there was the oddtweaks and and then technical
side of it.
But you know we've got a numberof forbes travel guide
properties and and we have someof our properties that aren't,
(18:47):
you know, but we we'veencompassed the standards
because when it comes down to it, you know, it's not just a
Forbes travel guide standardthat is only applicable to a
Forbes travel guide rated hotel,it's, you know, service and
hospitality in general.
You know, so you don't have tobe a recognized hotel to embody
(19:08):
these great values and serviceexcellence.
It's throughout our collectionof recognition hotels, these
great values and serviceexcellence.
It's throughout our collection.
Red Carnation of the Tales andyou know we have a lot of
support, you know, from MrRaggett and I'm at this
conference and a lot of you knowwhat we've talked about.
One of the main themes comingthrough is support of ownership
and senior leadership andcertainly Red Carnation of the
(19:30):
Tales.
You know anything that we arealways doing together as a team.
You know the tolman family andmr raggett are always super
supportive of of everything andand and it's so, so important
and so valuable.
You're not just to myself as asa general manager, manager,
director, um, but but everygeneral manager of every
property.
(19:50):
We all say the same same thingand the team know that.
And because they know of thatsupportiveness, then it fuels
their desire, you know, to be asgood as they can and serve our
guests and look after our teams.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah, it's a really good point you just made there
too, because what's also uniqueabout the Red Carnation Hotel
Collection is there's not aseparation between ownership and
management.
There's not a separation betweenownership and management, and
that is often the case,especially in a lot of luxury
organizations, where you havethe ownership and the asset
manager and then you have theproperty manager, and that you
have to find a way to work insynergy together, and I've met
(20:23):
people and that'll be featuredon our highlight reel that
actually work between those twoorganizations, and you don't
have that.
It's um.
So the other thing youhighlighted, too, is that being
here in Monaco, and some of thehighlights you'd called out to
me about being in Vegas was verymuch the kinship that you also
then have with other generalmanagers, so there's great
networking opportunities andlearning from each other.
(20:44):
So tell us now, as we sit herenow in Monaco in 2025, what have
been some of those highlightsfrom this year's of the summit
and what are some of thetakeaways that you're expecting
to be able to bring back, aswe're sitting here on on day two
, from the conference I meanit's, uh, you know a lot of.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It is very similar to to vegas.
There's a bit of a more diverseattendance this year.
Um, that's just 750, I think751 actually delegates of of
attendance.
So the diversity of person youmeet, including the luxury
travel advisors and the generalmanagers from around the globe,
you know it's unique, it's agreat opportunity, it's very
(21:28):
inspirational.
Tellier, you know, from, uh, hisproperty in los angeles, for
instance, that was last nightand versus this morning, you're
talking to a general managerwith her property in hong kong,
for instance, and it's, it'sjust, it's great conversations
to have.
You know, we don't always getthat opportunity in in london
and in the uk.
(21:48):
So, again, to come out, comeout here here and have that is
great.
And I do take the inspirationback and even if it's a message
that you've heard before aboutthe importance of certain things
, it's nice to take a step backand think about how you can go
back to London, to the UK, andreapply that or maybe apply it a
(22:08):
bit more strongly.
Of course there's new thingsthat you pick up and I think I
mentioned before the chance tomeet these luxury travel
advisors and hear their storiesand get a feel for how their
clients are traveling, how oftenthey're traveling, where we are
this year and into next.
(22:29):
That we've been talking aboutover the last couple of days is
important, but you share akinship and a positive direction
with everyone in thisincredible event.
And it is an incredible eventbecause you've got the business
side of things through the day,where everyone works really hard
from eight o'clock in themorning and often previous to
(22:51):
that over breakfast meetings.
You've got the symposium.
You've got your brain dates,you've got your, your agent
meets, you've got your, yourdiscovery sessions.
And then we still maintain theelement of success and
celebration by a couple ofincredible events that, uh, for
travel guide, organized and puton just to, you know, celebrate
(23:14):
the, the you know a good, hardyear of work and, and you know,
celebrate our teams.
You know their successes.
As for travel guide hotels andand in our sense, 41 is five
stars.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
There it's, it's a pleasure yeah, well, I know
we're both going to be dressedup in our tuxedos tonight to uh
look our best for the gala andthe award function.
I look forward to celebratingwith you there.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
I've got bad news.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Oh, that's right.
Tell everybody what you'regoing to be wearing.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Well, I'm not wearing my tuxedo, or I think we say we
say dinner jacket, don't we indinner suit in the UK?
No, I've.
I've been in honor of my newopening in in Edinburgh, 100
Princess Street.
I've decided to introduceMonaco to my kilt this evening
time, so I'll be proudly asScottish as you can get tonight.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Freedom.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Here we go With the family tartan and and old ski,
new in the sock.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
And yeah, goodness help the, the, the residents of
monaco and everyone else thatcomes across me my kilt and, uh,
I love that you're going to dothat, not only because you're
scottish, it's your heritage,but you highlighted to me
yesterday that there's a fewplaces in the world that you're
really keen to wear your kilt,new york city being one of them
and, um, monaco being another.
So you're gonna have that andyou, um, you are a
(24:30):
traditionalist.
For those of you that arelistening to this and want to
know what that means, I'll letyou look that up for yourself.
But, um, you are a traditionalwearer of the kilt because it is
, as you highlighted to me, veryhot and um, and so I, uh, I, I
respect you.
I one of the things for ourlisteners.
I'm going to make sure we havea picture of the two of us
tonight.
So if you jump on social media,at a travel trends podcast or at
(24:52):
DC trips on Instagram, you canlook for a, a photo of Malcolm
all dressed up tonight, bestanding next to him, looking
like a penguin, um, but theother thing I wanted to chat
with you about, malcolm, giventhat you're you've been ahead of
the curve here in terms ofpartnership with Forbes travel
guide, but you've also beenahead of the curve with
sustainability.
You obviously have the livingwall at the Rubens Hotel.
(25:13):
You have the Make Travel Matterinitiative in partnership with
Treadwright.
Of course, you've been ahead ofthe curve with cuisine and some
of the restaurants that areavailable at each of the amazing
Red Carnation Hotel properties,and even wellness, too, is an
overall trend which clearly isonly just continuing to increase
in importance.
So I wanted to get your takefor our global listeners about
(25:35):
what are the trends that you'repaying attention to, whether
they be in London or in luxurytravel, but just in terms of
overall hospitality, what aresome of the trends you're seeing
in 2025 that you're expectingto?
You know you're responding toin terms of customer behavior
and booking activities.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Well, I think one of the things that we have been
talking about in the conferencehere is is how much you know
luxury properties and partscontinue to embrace and be able
to embrace the sustainabilityside of of of what we do and and
, and that's good because it it.
We started talking about this,you know, at some of the forbes
conferences almost my first one10 years ago, you know.
(26:14):
So it continues to be, and I'mactually going to do a discovery
session on at two o'clock todayvery shortly.
So it's really integral intothe discussion, into the
ambition.
And another thing that sits inline with Red Carnation and
Tales is that sustainabilitythat really does come from the
top of of tolman family, mrraggett, has been a key
(26:35):
importance to to our business,how we operate and and you
mentioned a few of the, thelinen programs, the food
recycling, uh, the eliminationof single-use plastic you know
uniquely in my property theliving wall and and everything
it does for the environment andand so so we're very lucky that
that continues to be embraced asimportant in this luxury travel
(26:57):
world that we live in.
Other trends we've been talkingabout continued the, the
continuing emergence of local,authentic experiences, and that
can be gained anywhere.
It's not just in thenon-city-like locations and the
(27:19):
rural locations, but for us, alot of our hotels, and certainly
my hotels, are city-centrelocations.
So authentic experiences to take.
One we we're very proud of isis our borough market experience
.
You know, whereas, as with ourexecutive chef, ben keller, our
guests can can go down in themarket you know london's famous
borough market that still is isa a very shopped market by
(27:43):
locals and and enjoy, you know,selecting the best of produce
and and meeting, you know, theindividual growers, the
individual farmers, and have aninteractive experience down
there with chef picking theirown ingredients for a dinner
that they'll return to the hoteland chef will then cook that
unique tailored menu for a guest.
(28:03):
So that really is authentic andwe've got a number of these
type experiences that I could abit more time I could talk about
, but that's definitely a trendthat's growing and we talk about
we have talked about that fortwo days the continued
engagement, the importance offace-to-face time between team
members and guests you know, iscontinually demanded and
(28:27):
expected by both guests and teammembers.
I'm pleased to say so, in aworld of screens and artificial
intelligence and whatever whichalso comes up as an important
tool for going forward in theuse of artificial intelligence,
importantly to harness it, tounlock more of a time to spend
(28:49):
time face-to-face with guests.
That's certainly a trend wetalked about here as well.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, there's a number of valuable trends you
just mentioned there.
And, just to give credit wherecredit is due, brett Tolman was
the one that actually introducedme to, or suggested I go and
check out the Borough Marketwhen I was staying in London
over a weekend.
We had meetings on the Fridaysand Mondays, so I was in town
over a weekend.
He was like it should go onSaturday to Borough Market, and
I love Borough Market.
I'm sure many of our listenersare already well familiar with
it, but that was my firstintroduction to it, and not only
(29:15):
have I gone on to have a loveof markets.
I created a venture, a realpassion project, called
world'sbestmarketscom, whichfeatures the top 100 markets
around the world, and boroughmarket for me, is number one,
and I always get asked thatquestion and I, whenever I'm in
london, I always make it uh, aneffort to get to borough market.
But that's, this is where youknow.
That suggestion could come fromthe concierge at the red
(29:36):
carnation hotel, and that is theculture of the organization.
The interesting thing that hadcome up for me recently, malcolm
and this certainly relates tothe experience that you offer is
that, um, there's a technologycompany that partners with
hotels to offer activities, andpart of the reason that they
actually recommend theirtechnology is because when
someone has a great experiencein a destination, they tend to
(29:57):
give a much more positive reviewand a net promoter score.
Mps, as many organizations arefamiliar with, which is so
important to our industry andyour success.
So having those positiveassociations of a borough market
or the experience you have indestination, in addition to
having a wonderful place to stayand that was something that I
guess it was just built into theDNA of the organization at Red
(30:19):
Carnation- yeah, you know, it's,it's you know, for for a long
time now we we've really haveunderstood the importance of of
you, a guest experience extendsout with the walls of the hotel
or the restaurant, in the hotelor the bedroom.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
It's, you know, it is the restaurant that we
recommend to them in that areaof London.
It is the borough marketexperience, it is the, in a
leisure sense, the tour theytake.
Everything you know actually,whether it's recommended by the
hotel or not, goes andcontributes towards the overall
guest experience, positive ornegative, you know.
(30:58):
Drag it back to the reservationprocess and our hard we work to
try and find out about a guestand the reasons for making the
trip, and what's important tothem is really to hopefully help
(31:24):
increase the positivity and theexperiences and maybe unlock
some possibilities that theymight have not found out about
themselves.
That we can ensure that theirtime with my guests in London or
Edinburgh and that can be anysort of reclamation location,
but for me, london and Edinburghthat they are having the best
(31:44):
time and the most valuable timeand it is just from when they
arrive in the destination towhen they leave.
They're our guests and we wantthe very best.
One of the other things thatwe've talked about in the last
two days here is that very muchluxury.
One of the key things aboutluxury is finding time and how
(32:06):
you use the time and, and so ifwe're embracing our guests and
engaging in in how you know whattime they have and how they're
spending their time and howwe're recommending they spend
their time where there ispockets of opportunity, then it
really goes towards, you know,that exceptional experience from
start to finish yeah, no,that's great, malcolm, and one
(32:27):
of the.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
I've got two more questions.
You and I know you've got yoursession coming up, but one of
the things I wanted to ask youand it connects to the reason
that we're sitting down todayNot only obviously do we know
each other and we obviously hadthe privilege to speak last year
because I was just keen tocatch up with you and interview
you as part of the podcast butthis year's theme behind the
stars and Jennifer and Amanda,who I work closely with at
(32:48):
Forbes Travel Guide to bringthis co-branded podcast series
together.
When I was speaking to Jenniferand highlighting Red Carnation
and yourself, malcolm, and whatwe talked about last year and my
keenness to have you part ofthis special kind of 10
exclusive conversations from theevent, there's a number of
reasons for me that I actually Ithought it important, but one
(33:09):
of the things that Jennifercompletely agreed on is that
more people need to know aboutred carnation hotels and really
understand this, uh, the culturethat you've built and and
really a culture of excellence,so that knowledge clearly flows
both ways.
I know I asked you about youknow what you've learned from
Forbes travel guide and whatyou've applied.
I think you know there's manymore uh organizations that can
(33:29):
benefit from knowing about, umred carnation hotels, and even
you know Jonathan yourself, thegeneral managers.
You know the entireorganization, right down to even
Wayne Clark, who's a goodfriend of Jonathan's as well.
They're like the world-classmanager and some of the things
that you know.
he's a terrific colleague andfriend to us all, so I guess
what I wanted to ask youultimately is what do you think
(33:51):
makes Red Carnation, andspecifically Rubens 41 and
Princess Street, unique inluxury hospitality?
Speaker 1 (34:00):
You know it's always down to the people.
You know the people that areinvolved, you know, and again,
it's I'm not just going to talkabout my incredible teams in in
the properties I'm fortunate tobe involved with, but the people
really, right from the top,from supportive owners in the
tolman family to an incrediblyhard-working, talented and
(34:20):
supportive uh leader and the ceo, mr raggett you know they're,
they are part of the peopleequation.
If, if you like, that's got tobe right to allow general
managers like myself and that tolead their own teams and their
own properties, and that'simportant.
And then, coming down to ourlevel here, the on-poverty teams
(34:42):
, their engagement, theirhappiness, their welfare, their
well-being everything goes intomaking a happy team, absolutely
key to that, translating into aguest experience, and I think
I'd hope every general managerwould say the same.
(35:02):
But it cannot be more saidabout that of a red carnation.
You know culture and andprobably that that is is the
importance, and you know myself.
Come back to 25 years.
You know I'm one of a number oflong-standing general managers
that they've booted 20-25 yearsin and and I think we were
(35:23):
looking at one of the, the newboys the other day and and he's
only got 15 years, sort of thing.
So you know that doesn't happen.
You know if there isn't aculture of happiness and
commitment and real care.
You know from ownership CEO allthe way through the teams.
You know up and down, if youlike to say that, and it
(35:45):
certainly is important and key.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Yeah Well, one of the things I've certainly
experienced myself andunderstand from top performing
organizations is that theycelebrate success together, sort
of a great representation ofexcellent culture, and that's
certainly what you do every yearat the red carnation, with a
massive christmas party thateveryone wants to be a part of,
and you bring people in from allover the world and have a you
know, a massive gathering thateveryone raves about and feels
(36:08):
privileged to be a part of.
So you certainly walk the walkin addition to talk the talk,
and I think that's you know,that really makes a difference.
So, malcolm, I'm going to askyou one last question and then
I'll let you go which is havegiven your, your personal
expertise, what advice would yougive to someone else aspiring
or coming up in the world ofhospitality?
(36:29):
Would you?
Speaker 1 (36:31):
give to someone else aspiring or coming up in the
world of hospitality.
Um, you know, I I would alwayssay to everyone you know, come
into hospitality if you enjoypeople.
You know, if you enjoy beingaround people it's such a
wonderful, um profession to beinvolved with if you love people
and and I love people myselfand, and you know I'm surrounded
by a number of professionalshere that also love people and
(36:53):
it's always about the people soenjoy that.
Uh, I would always say toeveryone, you know, come in, be
positive.
You know, work hard, you dowhatever.
You can always go the additionalmile, always do that little bit
extra, always look for thatopportunity to do that little
bit extra, to always look forthat opportunity to do that
little bit extra, to takeadvantage not just for the tasks
that you may or may not bedoing, but for the experience of
(37:16):
completing it.
Because, you know, in our worldwe are charged with, you know,
the care of our guests'experiences, the care of our
team experiences, and it's anincredible responsibility but if
we get it right, you know it'sthe most rewarding, most
(37:38):
rewarding job and profession tobe involved with.
You know that that care ofpeople's time, people's memories
and memories that lasts alifetime.
What a responsibility and whata privilege.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Yeah, and speaking of a privilege, what a privilege
is to know you, to have thistime together with you, malcolm.
I obviously I value ourfriendship and the history and
obviously have a great respectand affinity for Red Carnation
Brett, vicky, jonathan, thewhole team and all the general
managers I've had the privilegeto know and get to know over the
years, and whenever I see youguys it's just delightful, and
(38:12):
so I look forward to seeing youin London again, hopefully in
the near future and keeping inregular contact.
But I certainly want to wish you, your family, your son Jake
hopefully he wins, you know thenext big football match this
season and you coach his team aswell, so that's another special
thing about you.
But as I coach my son inbaseball and this is some of the
things that you and I haveconnected on over the years, but
, yeah, malcolm, real greatpleasure to have this friendship
(38:34):
and connection with you and Icertainly look at you as one of
the great leaders in thisindustry and I'm sure many
people who have listened to thiswill go and find you on
LinkedIn to be able just tounderstand and see the things
that you share.
And then also we check out redcarnationcom and have the
privilege, if they haven'talready, to stay at a red
carnation hotel, um, butdefinitely, if you're going to
(38:54):
London, rubin's and hotel 41, um, very special places to stay.
But yes, thank you again,malcolm, for being here.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Thank you, dan, great opportunity and thank you very
much for for giving me a bit ofa platform for a short time.
Come on, I'll talk about myhotels and red carnation hotels.
You're right, I'm on linkedinand I'm also on on the red
carnation website and those ofthe hotels.
Please, anyone in london reachout to me.
Anyone heading scotland ways,reach out me for, uh, anything I
do for them in edinburgh.
Uh, and thanks for all thesports tips you've given me over
(39:22):
the years.
It's amazing how americansports are very similar to
british sports and just, you'rea few years ahead.
So I just take it and reinventit in the football world.
To take your baseball advice,reinvent it in the football
world.
And we're OK on a Saturdaymorning, so it's all good.
And the other thing is, I'msure that everyone does know
what you look like and so whenthey see the picture there'll be
(39:42):
no problem.
But for anyone that doesn'tknow what you look like and
certainly don't know what likewhen you see the picture you'll
be the one in trousers thanks somuch, malcolm, real pleasure.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
I look forward to everyone checking out that photo
and maybe at some point we cando kilts together brilliant.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
I look forward to that day next year next year.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Thanks dan take care everyone thanks so much for
joining us on this very firstepisode of season two of our
special hospitality series inpartnership with forbes travel
guide.
I hope you enjoyed thisdiscussion with malcolm hendry
from Hotel 41 and the Rubens atthe Palace.
As you heard, he has a veryinspiring story to tell and many
valuable insights.
So thank you again, malcolm,for joining us.
(40:19):
I'm so glad we were able tomake this happen and to kick off
the series with you.
Now we're going to be launchingnew episodes every Thursday for
the next 10 weeks.
You'll be able to find these onTravelTrendsPodcastcom, on
Spotify, on Apple and the ForbesTravel Guide team will be
sharing them in theirnewsletters and on social
channels as well.
(40:39):
We'll be sure to put out clipsand highlights, because we have
some great video highlights.
So make sure that you check outboth of our social channels.
At Forbes Travel Guide and atTravel Trends Podcast, we're on
Instagram, youtube and LinkedIn,and then next week we're
actually going to have a fellowCanadian.
Her name is Sarah McIntosh, butshe is the hotel manager of the
(41:00):
Mayborn Beverly Hills.
You have to stay tuned for thatconversation, because we talk
about the White Lotus, the showthat we're all obsessed with,
and then we're going to continuewith a number of fascinating
individuals from all over theworld.
We're going to have themanaging director of the very
first Carinthia Hotel in NewYork.
(41:22):
Pradeep Raman, is going to joinus, and that was an exceptional
conversation.
We are going to havePierre-Louis Renaud, who is
based in Cannes, the CarltonCannes Hotel, and one of my
favorites, marc Basalago, who isrunning the Waldorf Astoria in
the Seychelles.
But that is just a glimpse ofthe number of people that are
(41:42):
going to be joining us over thenext several weeks.
So make sure that you are alsosigned up to receive our monthly
newsletters atTravelTrendsPodcastcomcom and
we'll send a summary around ofall the latest special
hospitality series.
So make sure that you registerfor that and on the streaming
platform of your choice.
And until next time, safetravels.
The diversity of person you meet, including the
luxury travel advisors and thegeneral managers from around the
globe.
You know it's unique, it's agreat opportunity.
It's very inspirational.
You know I get to come out hereand have that.
It's great and I do take theinspiration back the inspiration
(00:26):
back.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hello everyone and welcome to season two of our
special hospitality series inpartnership with our friends at
Forbes Travel Guide.
As many of our listeners know,we had the privilege to attend
our very first the Summit in LasVegas last year.
We recorded a first season tobring our listeners behind the
scenes insights, expertinterviews and really do a deep
dive into what makes luxuryhospitality so extraordinary.
We had an exceptional responseto that first season and we were
(00:47):
thrilled and honored to beinvited back for the summit in
Monaco, which is the very firstinternational event for the
Forbes Travel Guide team.
But just to make sure thateverybody knows who Forbes
Travel Guide are they are theglobal authority on luxury
hospitality and theirprestigious star rating system
and expert recommendations arewhat really set the standard for
(01:07):
excellence in the industry.
So it's a huge honor for us topartner with them and also to be
at the summit, their annualevent and this time the first
debut internationally whichbrings together the best in the
business to share theirknowledge, and that's certainly
what I had the chance to see andexperience.
There was over 750 attendeesfrom more than 90 countries and
(01:28):
over the three days it was allabout learning and connection
and collaborating with reallythe world's best.
There was main stage talks andexclusive breakout sessions and,
of course, the historicpresence of His Serene Highness
Prince Albert II, who attendedall three days, which, from my
perspective, the summit reallyestablished itself as the
centerpiece for global luxuryhospitality and, excitingly,
(01:52):
they also announced at the endof the event that we're going
back to Monaco in 2026.
So it was a perfect place forthis event to come together, and
it wasn't just aboutcelebrating the achievements and
discussing the future of luxuryhospitality.
It was really about immersingyourself in the world of luxury
hospitality.
So anyone who is in theindustry or an avid traveler or
(02:14):
curious about how these amazingproperties offer this top tier
service, I think these episodeswill bring you invaluable
insights and a lot ofinspiration.
Interestingly for this year,this was the first time that
European hotels led the way inthe number of new five-star
properties, and you're actuallygoing to get to hear from a few
of those hotels on this series.
(02:36):
Now it's important to understandhow difficult it actually is to
achieve a five-star rating, butreally any place on the Forbes
Travel Guide star-rated list,whether it's recommended four
stars or the pinnacle being fivestars not only do you have to
achieve that extraordinaryaccomplishment.
You need to maintain it yearafter year.
So they are not easily earned,but maintaining them gets harder
(02:58):
and harder every year, andthat's actually why they have a
partnership with the Academy,which is separate to Forbes
Travel Guide, but for thelearning and development service
they have exclusive rights fromthe Forbes Travel Guide
official star rating standards,and it's another way that I
discovered how these incredibleproperties are able to improve
their level of service to thepoint where they create raving
(03:20):
fans and people coming back totheir property.
So there is a tremendousbenefit of being associated with
Forbes Travel Guide and toachieve that status and ranking,
but there's also a huge benefitto going on that journey to
improve the guest experience attheir properties.
That will ultimately lead tomore delighted guests and them
coming back again and again.
Now for season two, we're goingto introduce you to the leaders
(03:43):
behind the stars.
That's the theme for our secondseason, and these are the
visionaries from the world'sfinest properties who embody
everything it takes to deliver aworld-class experience.
There are going to be 10inspiring episodes as we bring
you some of the brightest mindsshaping this industry.
We're going to talk about theirpassion, their resilience and
the innovation behind theirjourneys.
(04:03):
We're going to be speaking tohoteliers from Italy, france,
beverly Hills and the Seychelles.
We're actually going to starttoday, though, with a dear
friend of mine who is based inLondon, but he is Scottish, and
very proudly so.
For those of you who haven'talready seen the cover of this
episode, you have to check itout, because we made a
(04:23):
commitment that we were going tocapture a photo of us together
at the gala dinner that night,where Malcolm was going to be
wearing his Scottish kilt and helooks fantastic, as you'll see
and he was so excited to be ableto wear it in Monaco for the
very first time.
Now Malcolm is the managingdirector of Hotel 41 and the
Rubens at the Palace, which arepart of the Red Carnation Hotel
(04:44):
Collection.
He also oversees a new propertyin Edinburgh that we'll discuss
as well, but he has aremarkable story to tell about
his journey to become a ForbesTravel Guide five-star property,
and I had the opportunity tosit down with him last year in
Las Vegas, but we had a coupleof technical issues, so this is
(05:04):
the first opportunity that wehad then to recapture the moment
, and that's why this episode isso special for me and one of
the reasons that we're leadingoff with this.
Malcolm is an extraordinaryindividual.
As you'll hear, he's a greatdad, a terrific business leader,
and I couldn't be more thrilledto bring this discussion
together.
Thank you, malcolm, for beinghere with us, and I look forward
(05:24):
to sharing your story.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Wow, thank you very much.
What an introduction.
Thank you, dan.
It's been a short year betweenLas Vegas and here we are in
Monaco, so it's different toVegas.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Well, let me set the stage for our listeners, because
this is where I wanted toacknowledge our previous
conversation and actually diveright into the fact that you you
inspired me last year with yourstory about the fact that,
unlike any of the otherproperties within the
Recarnation Group, you went toyour boss, jonathan Raggett, who
we both know, and said to himthat you needed to be Forbes
(05:57):
travel guide rated, and you wenton a journey to get there and
have seen such success as aresult of that, and this is the
big conference you come to.
So let's go back to that so allof our listeners can understand
your journey.
So tell us, I guess, first ofall, for those of our listeners
that are not familiar with RedCarnation Hotels or doesn't know
Rubens or the fact that Hotel41 is like the number one hotel
(06:17):
on TripAdvisor every year, telleveryone about the properties
that you oversee.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
So I'm very privileged to be looking after
two of our London properties onBuckingham Palace Road, just by
Buckingham Palace the Rubens atthe Palace aptly named and Hotel
41 at 41 Buckingham Palace Road.
And also, most recently, weopened in April 17 last year our
first and only Scottish hotelin Edinburgh, 100 Princess
(06:49):
Street.
That was open, had an excellentfirst year of operation and we
have an anniversary this comingApril.
So looking forward to that, andagain, it's a pleasure and a
privilege to be back home in myhome country after 31 years away
.
For sure, as a London boy, Iget to go back for a short
journey every three, four weeksjust to see the team and look
after my responsibilities.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, no, it's well-deserved advancement for
you and I guess that's where foreveryone that could listen and
learn from you in thisdiscussion.
Tell everyone how long you'vebeen managing the Rubens now and
your introduction, if you will,to hospitality.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, so I started Red Carnation Hotels.
It'll be my 25 year anniversarythis year on June the 10th.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Congratulations.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And yeah, that was 2000.
I started at the Rubens asdeputy manager in May of 2001.
And was promoted to generalmanager there in August of 2004.
So really I was general managerfor about 18 years and then
managing director in my currentposition for two years this year
(07:53):
.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
That's amazing.
Well, and just for ourlisteners too, I had the great
fortune to work with both BrettTolman and Jonathan Raggett for
many years, and Jonathan Raggettfor many years Brett Solman, of
course, the CEO and chairman ofthe travel corporation, the red
carnation hotel chain beingcreated by his uh, his father
and his mother, and I guessthat's where you know there's a
strong family connection.
And when we would, I would uh,visit London quite often, it was
(08:16):
really a home away from homeand seeing you quite regularly
throughout the year, which iswhy I think we have such a
strong bond and kinship.
We'd have dinner together andoften, sometimes Brett would be
there, jonathan would pop in,and I still remember when your
son, jake, was born.
He's now 12, 13.
Yeah, he's 12.
(08:36):
Yeah, and it's um, you know I,just our kids are 17.
So I was just ahead of you thenand um, and and able to impart
some some fatherly advice at thetime.
But, yeah, you and I havealways had such a, I guess, a
strong bond.
But I and this is where Ididn't know until we sat down
last year at Vegas your story inconnection with Forbes travel
guides all of a sudden, I'msitting on the other side of the
table from you interviewing you, and I actually wanted you to
share that story with all of ourlisteners so they can hear it
(08:56):
from you directly.
So take us on that journeyagain of how you decided to
become Forbes travel guide ratedand ultimately twisted
Jonathan's arm enough to let himgive you this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Well, I mean, we talked a lot about, you know,
forbes Travel Guide and, youknow, becoming an aspirational,
you know, forbes five-star hotel.
We had been talking at thegeneral manager's level with Mr
Ragged various meetings aboutthe properties in London and
there was only a handful at thetime, certainly.
So it was very much recognisedas the top industry award and
really it's sort of borne out ofthat.
(09:27):
And I have a previousrelationship through another
source of travel with ChrisFradden now who heads up Europe
and EMA and everything that he'snow responsible for also half
the world, and we met in Hotel41 and he just started before
Travel Guide and he just talkeda little bit about you know
(09:50):
their vision, their standards,the service excellence.
You know commitment to.
You know guest engagement, youknow team engagement and he just
I remember straight away youknow, in our first meeting
talking about Forza Chris, thatyou away.
You know, in that first meetingtalking about Forza Chris, that
you know it really did alignwith everything that you know,
red Carnation, uh, the Tolmanfamily, mr Raggett and myself
(10:10):
all believe in.
You know, uh, the the, theexperience of of a guest in a
hotel, the experience of a teammember in the hotel, the
importance of you know your teamand and how, the importance of
them engaging with guests andlikewise guests engaging with
them.
So there was a great alignmentI thought with for travel guide
and what they believed was youknow that true service
(10:31):
experience and excellence andwhat we in red carnation and I
went to mr racket and and uhsaid we'd like to do it and and
uh, you know he, he agreed we'llleave it at that.
He agreed and and and I just gosmall feet, he's a great leader
, and but he expects um.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
He expects a lot right.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, he definitely.
Uh, I had to make various uhcommitments to um, not come back
with anything other than thefive star.
We'll, Thankfully, you know,with a fair wind and a lot of
hard work from the team andconsistency and, you know,
bringing a lot of you know whatForbes and Red Carnation believe
to be that experience of aguest engagement to bring it
(11:13):
into our culture.
We were successful and as westand here, this is we're nine
years a Forbes five-star hoteland, you know, super proud.
You know, and I genuinely Ireally do think it's a I come
back to that word privilege toattend the Forbes Summit and
(11:35):
it's one of the highlights of myyear.
I really enjoy the diversity of,you know, hotelier that comes
from all around the world toattend the unbelievable
properties and, you know, andnow the Forbes Travel Guide has
started to bring those 80 luxurytravel advisors attending.
(11:55):
So it puts a different angle topart of the summit as well, and
it's a great thing about Forbesthey are constantly developing,
constantly pushing theboundaries, making the summit
better every year and even thisyear actually moving out of
America for the first time toMonaco, unlocking the
opportunity for more people toattend and also to be in a
(12:18):
different part of the world andyou think a little bit different
in some ways as well, so it'sbrilliant.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Remind everyone how long it took you to get your
certification, initially yourForbes five-star.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Well, it's incredibly tough to be a Forbes five-star.
Well, it's really it'sincredibly tough to be a Forbes
five-star hotel, and I did makethe commitment that we would
nail it first year round and wenarrowly avoided it.
So it's just part of ourhistory, but I do, looking back
at that time, truly believe thatstrengthened our resolve to
(12:50):
come back and we narrowly missedit by a few decimal points of
the 90% we need to come back andwe narrowly missed it by a few
decimal points of the 90% weneed to achieve it.
And you know, I think thatdoing that strengthened our
resolve to shore up a lot ofwhat we were being judged on and
made us stronger for the future.
And then we did achieve it thefollowing year.
I believe we were in a betterplace then than we would have
(13:13):
been had it first time round,for sure Hit the money yeah.
Thanks for reminding me.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Well, there's a specific reason that I wanted to
jog your memory on.
That is because a few of theguests that we're having on this
year's season two of thespecial hospitality series in
partnership with Forbes, there'sa couple of hotels that have
achieved that in their firstyear and which is truly
remarkable when that actuallydoes happen.
But obviously, it's one thingto get your certification and
it's another thing to keep it,and so, um, as you've already
(13:44):
highlighted, you've had thecertification now for nine years
and you have to maintain thatexcellence.
So it's not something that,once you get that badge of honor
and certain properties losetheir status if they're not
meeting those expectations.
So it's, um, and this is whereI wanted to go with the next
question for you.
Is that, given your backgroundand experience, both with
pushing ahead with getting thecertification and going on that
journey, and then now sittinghere nearly a decade later,
(14:05):
having benefited from theassociation?
And one of the things you calledout for me that I've referenced
in other interviews too is thefact that, beyond the benefit of
being able to generateadditional business by being
Forbes travel guide five-starrated, is that it actually you
use the example there of how italigned with red carnations,
view of excellence, of valuesand and your commitment to
(14:33):
excellence and tiny, noticeabletouches and the things that are
so special and beautiful aboutred carnation hotels, as I've
come to know for many yearsincluding, you know, mr tolman
always having the red carnationin his lapel and um, many of the
magical things that you guys dothere.
I guess tell us some of thetips and suggestions that you
would have for other peoplelistening to this that are about
to start their journey.
What are some of the things youwould say that they need to be
paying attention to and aware of, for from your expertise, gosh,
(14:56):
big, big, big question.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I could probably talk for a long time on it, but in
in sort of summary, I think theum, the attention to detail is
important.
You know the small touches,whether it be positive, tiny,
noticeable touches or just thesmall detail of your, your
service, offering your, yourproducts.
Really important, uh, uniformstandards, um, you know a lot of
(15:18):
it is is getting the culture ofthe hotel right, uh, and
getting everyone along on thejourney with you.
Get everyone to believe thatthat you know, they understand,
you know what we need to bedoing for our guests, for our
team members, to be on thatjourney and be on that journey
daily.
I think that it's not somethingyou can pick up and put down.
(15:42):
There's got to be a big desirefor the team, the manager, so
myself and the senior team havegot to be driving those
standards, and it really does.
(16:03):
You know it starts at the top,but it's a consistently every
day.
Every day, you just arereinforcing and in a positive
way, uh, and you leave nothing,nothing to chance.
You know you're, you'rechecking everything, uh, you're
measuring everything, you'refacing up to things when they're
(16:23):
not right.
You're trying to understand andwhy, and and put them right and
, uh, you listen to your guestsmost definitely.
You listen to your guests Mostdefinitely.
You listen to your guests andyou pay attention and reasons
and really promote all thepositives of engaging with
guests and the face-to-face andthe conversational and how
(16:44):
important and unique guests areand everyone is an individual
your team members and yourguests.
And, yeah, it's developing theright positive culture.
Yeah, that enforces thestandards.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
So, given all of that and how red carnation has grown
as a luxury boutique four andfive star hotel collection of
properties globally and you knowyou have Asher Castle in
Ireland.
Of course you mentionedprincess street, which is
obviously new in Scotland.
I'm so thrilled that you'reoverseeing that.
(17:17):
You've got a Kedra in Botswana,you've got multiple properties
in South Africa and obviously inGeneva as well, and I've had
the privilege and good fortuneover many years to not only stay
with you many times but also tostay at other Red Carnation
hotels both in South Africa andIreland.
And I guess one thing I wantedto ask you about that is that
has the work at Ford TravelGuide impacted other areas of
the business?
Because I'm assuming you asgeneral managers work very
closely together and there's abit of competition amongst you.
(17:39):
I know you've got a friendlyrivalry, but there is a culture
of excellence at Red Carnationwith, certainly with with
Jonathan and the Tolman family,um, and so I guess what I'm
getting to is is there elementsof what you've succeeded with
with the Forbes that you'vebrought in to Rubens and 41,
that you have to take a bunch ofstandards, measurements that
(17:59):
forbes say and and give them tored carnation hotels and say
this is new because a lot ofwhat forbes really, if you look
at this and you know redcarnation hotels were doing, you
(18:26):
know a lot of.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
That's why I was so excited about, you know, looking
for these five star awards andbeing coming, becoming involved.
Of course, a lot of what theywere saying was important we
were doing anyway.
So there was, there was the oddtweaks and and then technical
side of it.
But you know we've got a numberof forbes travel guide
properties and and we have someof our properties that aren't,
(18:47):
you know, but we we'veencompassed the standards
because when it comes down to it, you know, it's not just a
Forbes travel guide standardthat is only applicable to a
Forbes travel guide rated hotel,it's, you know, service and
hospitality in general.
You know, so you don't have tobe a recognized hotel to embody
(19:08):
these great values and serviceexcellence.
It's throughout our collectionof recognition hotels, these
great values and serviceexcellence.
It's throughout our collection.
Red Carnation of the Tales andyou know we have a lot of
support, you know, from MrRaggett and I'm at this
conference and a lot of you knowwhat we've talked about.
One of the main themes comingthrough is support of ownership
and senior leadership andcertainly Red Carnation of the
(19:30):
Tales.
You know anything that we arealways doing together as a team.
You know the tolman family andmr raggett are always super
supportive of of everything andand and it's so, so important
and so valuable.
You're not just to myself as asa general manager, manager,
director, um, but but everygeneral manager of every
property.
(19:50):
We all say the same same thingand the team know that.
And because they know of thatsupportiveness, then it fuels
their desire, you know, to be asgood as they can and serve our
guests and look after our teams.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah, it's a really good point you just made there
too, because what's also uniqueabout the Red Carnation Hotel
Collection is there's not aseparation between ownership and
management.
There's not a separation betweenownership and management, and
that is often the case,especially in a lot of luxury
organizations, where you havethe ownership and the asset
manager and then you have theproperty manager, and that you
have to find a way to work insynergy together, and I've met
(20:23):
people and that'll be featuredon our highlight reel that
actually work between those twoorganizations, and you don't
have that.
It's um.
So the other thing youhighlighted, too, is that being
here in Monaco, and some of thehighlights you'd called out to
me about being in Vegas was verymuch the kinship that you also
then have with other generalmanagers, so there's great
networking opportunities andlearning from each other.
(20:44):
So tell us now, as we sit herenow in Monaco in 2025, what have
been some of those highlightsfrom this year's of the summit
and what are some of thetakeaways that you're expecting
to be able to bring back, aswe're sitting here on on day two
, from the conference I meanit's, uh, you know a lot of.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It is very similar to to vegas.
There's a bit of a more diverseattendance this year.
Um, that's just 750, I think751 actually delegates of of
attendance.
So the diversity of person youmeet, including the luxury
travel advisors and the generalmanagers from around the globe,
you know it's unique, it's agreat opportunity, it's very
(21:28):
inspirational.
Tellier, you know, from, uh, hisproperty in los angeles, for
instance, that was last nightand versus this morning, you're
talking to a general managerwith her property in hong kong,
for instance, and it's, it'sjust, it's great conversations
to have.
You know, we don't always getthat opportunity in in london
and in the uk.
(21:48):
So, again, to come out, comeout here here and have that is
great.
And I do take the inspirationback and even if it's a message
that you've heard before aboutthe importance of certain things
, it's nice to take a step backand think about how you can go
back to London, to the UK, andreapply that or maybe apply it a
(22:08):
bit more strongly.
Of course there's new thingsthat you pick up and I think I
mentioned before the chance tomeet these luxury travel
advisors and hear their storiesand get a feel for how their
clients are traveling, how oftenthey're traveling, where we are
this year and into next.
(22:29):
That we've been talking aboutover the last couple of days is
important, but you share akinship and a positive direction
with everyone in thisincredible event.
And it is an incredible eventbecause you've got the business
side of things through the day,where everyone works really hard
from eight o'clock in themorning and often previous to
(22:51):
that over breakfast meetings.
You've got the symposium.
You've got your brain dates,you've got your, your agent
meets, you've got your, yourdiscovery sessions.
And then we still maintain theelement of success and
celebration by a couple ofincredible events that, uh, for
travel guide, organized and puton just to, you know, celebrate
(23:14):
the, the you know a good, hardyear of work and, and you know,
celebrate our teams.
You know their successes.
As for travel guide hotels andand in our sense, 41 is five
stars.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
There it's, it's a pleasure yeah, well, I know
we're both going to be dressedup in our tuxedos tonight to uh
look our best for the gala andthe award function.
I look forward to celebratingwith you there.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
I've got bad news.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Oh, that's right.
Tell everybody what you'regoing to be wearing.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Well, I'm not wearing my tuxedo, or I think we say we
say dinner jacket, don't we indinner suit in the UK?
No, I've.
I've been in honor of my newopening in in Edinburgh, 100
Princess Street.
I've decided to introduceMonaco to my kilt this evening
time, so I'll be proudly asScottish as you can get tonight.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Freedom.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Here we go With the family tartan and and old ski,
new in the sock.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
And yeah, goodness help the, the, the residents of
monaco and everyone else thatcomes across me my kilt and, uh,
I love that you're going to dothat, not only because you're
scottish, it's your heritage,but you highlighted to me
yesterday that there's a fewplaces in the world that you're
really keen to wear your kilt,new york city being one of them
and, um, monaco being another.
So you're gonna have that andyou, um, you are a
(24:30):
traditionalist.
For those of you that arelistening to this and want to
know what that means, I'll letyou look that up for yourself.
But, um, you are a traditionalwearer of the kilt because it is
, as you highlighted to me, veryhot and um, and so I, uh, I, I
respect you.
I one of the things for ourlisteners.
I'm going to make sure we havea picture of the two of us
tonight.
So if you jump on social media,at a travel trends podcast or at
(24:52):
DC trips on Instagram, you canlook for a, a photo of Malcolm
all dressed up tonight, bestanding next to him, looking
like a penguin, um, but theother thing I wanted to chat
with you about, malcolm, giventhat you're you've been ahead of
the curve here in terms ofpartnership with Forbes travel
guide, but you've also beenahead of the curve with
sustainability.
You obviously have the livingwall at the Rubens Hotel.
(25:13):
You have the Make Travel Matterinitiative in partnership with
Treadwright.
Of course, you've been ahead ofthe curve with cuisine and some
of the restaurants that areavailable at each of the amazing
Red Carnation Hotel properties,and even wellness, too, is an
overall trend which clearly isonly just continuing to increase
in importance.
So I wanted to get your takefor our global listeners about
(25:35):
what are the trends that you'repaying attention to, whether
they be in London or in luxurytravel, but just in terms of
overall hospitality, what aresome of the trends you're seeing
in 2025 that you're expectingto?
You know you're responding toin terms of customer behavior
and booking activities.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Well, I think one of the things that we have been
talking about in the conferencehere is is how much you know
luxury properties and partscontinue to embrace and be able
to embrace the sustainabilityside of of of what we do and and
, and that's good because it it.
We started talking about this,you know, at some of the forbes
conferences almost my first one10 years ago, you know.
(26:14):
So it continues to be, and I'mactually going to do a discovery
session on at two o'clock todayvery shortly.
So it's really integral intothe discussion, into the
ambition.
And another thing that sits inline with Red Carnation and
Tales is that sustainabilitythat really does come from the
top of of tolman family, mrraggett, has been a key
(26:35):
importance to to our business,how we operate and and you
mentioned a few of the, thelinen programs, the food
recycling, uh, the eliminationof single-use plastic you know
uniquely in my property theliving wall and and everything
it does for the environment andand so so we're very lucky that
that continues to be embraced asimportant in this luxury travel
(26:57):
world that we live in.
Other trends we've been talkingabout continued the, the
continuing emergence of local,authentic experiences, and that
can be gained anywhere.
It's not just in thenon-city-like locations and the
(27:19):
rural locations, but for us, alot of our hotels, and certainly
my hotels, are city-centrelocations.
So authentic experiences to take.
One we we're very proud of isis our borough market experience
.
You know, whereas, as with ourexecutive chef, ben keller, our
guests can can go down in themarket you know london's famous
borough market that still is isa a very shopped market by
(27:43):
locals and and enjoy, you know,selecting the best of produce
and and meeting, you know, theindividual growers, the
individual farmers, and have aninteractive experience down
there with chef picking theirown ingredients for a dinner
that they'll return to the hoteland chef will then cook that
unique tailored menu for a guest.
(28:03):
So that really is authentic andwe've got a number of these
type experiences that I could abit more time I could talk about
, but that's definitely a trendthat's growing and we talk about
we have talked about that fortwo days the continued
engagement, the importance offace-to-face time between team
members and guests you know, iscontinually demanded and
(28:27):
expected by both guests and teammembers.
I'm pleased to say so, in aworld of screens and artificial
intelligence and whatever whichalso comes up as an important
tool for going forward in theuse of artificial intelligence,
importantly to harness it, tounlock more of a time to spend
(28:49):
time face-to-face with guests.
That's certainly a trend wetalked about here as well.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, there's a number of valuable trends you
just mentioned there.
And, just to give credit wherecredit is due, brett Tolman was
the one that actually introducedme to, or suggested I go and
check out the Borough Marketwhen I was staying in London
over a weekend.
We had meetings on the Fridaysand Mondays, so I was in town
over a weekend.
He was like it should go onSaturday to Borough Market, and
I love Borough Market.
I'm sure many of our listenersare already well familiar with
it, but that was my firstintroduction to it, and not only
(29:15):
have I gone on to have a loveof markets.
I created a venture, a realpassion project, called
world'sbestmarketscom, whichfeatures the top 100 markets
around the world, and boroughmarket for me, is number one,
and I always get asked thatquestion and I, whenever I'm in
london, I always make it uh, aneffort to get to borough market.
But that's, this is where youknow.
That suggestion could come fromthe concierge at the red
(29:36):
carnation hotel, and that is theculture of the organization.
The interesting thing that hadcome up for me recently, malcolm
and this certainly relates tothe experience that you offer is
that, um, there's a technologycompany that partners with
hotels to offer activities, andpart of the reason that they
actually recommend theirtechnology is because when
someone has a great experiencein a destination, they tend to
(29:57):
give a much more positive reviewand a net promoter score.
Mps, as many organizations arefamiliar with, which is so
important to our industry andyour success.
So having those positiveassociations of a borough market
or the experience you have indestination, in addition to
having a wonderful place to stayand that was something that I
guess it was just built into theDNA of the organization at Red
(30:19):
Carnation- yeah, you know, it's,it's you know, for for a long
time now we we've really haveunderstood the importance of of
you, a guest experience extendsout with the walls of the hotel
or the restaurant, in the hotelor the bedroom.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
It's, you know, it is the restaurant that we
recommend to them in that areaof London.
It is the borough marketexperience, it is the, in a
leisure sense, the tour theytake.
Everything you know actually,whether it's recommended by the
hotel or not, goes andcontributes towards the overall
guest experience, positive ornegative, you know.
(30:58):
Drag it back to the reservationprocess and our hard we work to
try and find out about a guestand the reasons for making the
trip, and what's important tothem is really to hopefully help
(31:24):
increase the positivity and theexperiences and maybe unlock
some possibilities that theymight have not found out about
themselves.
That we can ensure that theirtime with my guests in London or
Edinburgh and that can be anysort of reclamation location,
but for me, london and Edinburghthat they are having the best
(31:44):
time and the most valuable timeand it is just from when they
arrive in the destination towhen they leave.
They're our guests and we wantthe very best.
One of the other things thatwe've talked about in the last
two days here is that very muchluxury.
One of the key things aboutluxury is finding time and how
(32:06):
you use the time and, and so ifwe're embracing our guests and
engaging in in how you know whattime they have and how they're
spending their time and howwe're recommending they spend
their time where there ispockets of opportunity, then it
really goes towards, you know,that exceptional experience from
start to finish yeah, no,that's great, malcolm, and one
(32:27):
of the.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
I've got two more questions.
You and I know you've got yoursession coming up, but one of
the things I wanted to ask youand it connects to the reason
that we're sitting down todayNot only obviously do we know
each other and we obviously hadthe privilege to speak last year
because I was just keen tocatch up with you and interview
you as part of the podcast butthis year's theme behind the
stars and Jennifer and Amanda,who I work closely with at
(32:48):
Forbes Travel Guide to bringthis co-branded podcast series
together.
When I was speaking to Jenniferand highlighting Red Carnation
and yourself, malcolm, and whatwe talked about last year and my
keenness to have you part ofthis special kind of 10
exclusive conversations from theevent, there's a number of
reasons for me that I actually Ithought it important, but one
(33:09):
of the things that Jennifercompletely agreed on is that
more people need to know aboutred carnation hotels and really
understand this, uh, the culturethat you've built and and
really a culture of excellence,so that knowledge clearly flows
both ways.
I know I asked you about youknow what you've learned from
Forbes travel guide and whatyou've applied.
I think you know there's manymore uh organizations that can
(33:29):
benefit from knowing about, umred carnation hotels, and even
you know Jonathan yourself, thegeneral managers.
You know the entireorganization, right down to even
Wayne Clark, who's a goodfriend of Jonathan's as well.
They're like the world-classmanager and some of the things
that you know.
he's a terrific colleague andfriend to us all, so I guess
what I wanted to ask youultimately is what do you think
(33:51):
makes Red Carnation, andspecifically Rubens 41 and
Princess Street, unique inluxury hospitality?
Speaker 1 (34:00):
You know it's always down to the people.
You know the people that areinvolved, you know, and again,
it's I'm not just going to talkabout my incredible teams in in
the properties I'm fortunate tobe involved with, but the people
really, right from the top,from supportive owners in the
tolman family to an incrediblyhard-working, talented and
(34:20):
supportive uh leader and the ceo, mr raggett you know they're,
they are part of the peopleequation.
If, if you like, that's got tobe right to allow general
managers like myself and that tolead their own teams and their
own properties, and that'simportant.
And then, coming down to ourlevel here, the on-poverty teams
(34:42):
, their engagement, theirhappiness, their welfare, their
well-being everything goes intomaking a happy team, absolutely
key to that, translating into aguest experience, and I think
I'd hope every general managerwould say the same.
(35:02):
But it cannot be more saidabout that of a red carnation.
You know culture and andprobably that that is is the
importance, and you know myself.
Come back to 25 years.
You know I'm one of a number oflong-standing general managers
that they've booted 20-25 yearsin and and I think we were
(35:23):
looking at one of the, the newboys the other day and and he's
only got 15 years, sort of thing.
So you know that doesn't happen.
You know if there isn't aculture of happiness and
commitment and real care.
You know from ownership CEO allthe way through the teams.
You know up and down, if youlike to say that, and it
(35:45):
certainly is important and key.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Yeah Well, one of the things I've certainly
experienced myself andunderstand from top performing
organizations is that theycelebrate success together, sort
of a great representation ofexcellent culture, and that's
certainly what you do every yearat the red carnation, with a
massive christmas party thateveryone wants to be a part of,
and you bring people in from allover the world and have a you
know, a massive gathering thateveryone raves about and feels
(36:08):
privileged to be a part of.
So you certainly walk the walkin addition to talk the talk,
and I think that's you know,that really makes a difference.
So, malcolm, I'm going to askyou one last question and then
I'll let you go which is havegiven your, your personal
expertise, what advice would yougive to someone else aspiring
or coming up in the world ofhospitality?
(36:29):
Would you?
Speaker 1 (36:31):
give to someone else aspiring or coming up in the
world of hospitality.
Um, you know, I I would alwayssay to everyone you know, come
into hospitality if you enjoypeople.
You know, if you enjoy beingaround people it's such a
wonderful, um profession to beinvolved with if you love people
and and I love people myselfand, and you know I'm surrounded
by a number of professionalshere that also love people and
(36:53):
it's always about the people soenjoy that.
Uh, I would always say toeveryone, you know, come in, be
positive.
You know, work hard, you dowhatever.
You can always go the additionalmile, always do that little bit
extra, always look for thatopportunity to do that little
bit extra, to always look forthat opportunity to do that
little bit extra, to takeadvantage not just for the tasks
that you may or may not bedoing, but for the experience of
(37:16):
completing it.
Because, you know, in our worldwe are charged with, you know,
the care of our guests'experiences, the care of our
team experiences, and it's anincredible responsibility but if
we get it right, you know it'sthe most rewarding, most
(37:38):
rewarding job and profession tobe involved with.
You know that that care ofpeople's time, people's memories
and memories that lasts alifetime.
What a responsibility and whata privilege.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Yeah, and speaking of a privilege, what a privilege
is to know you, to have thistime together with you, malcolm.
I obviously I value ourfriendship and the history and
obviously have a great respectand affinity for Red Carnation
Brett, vicky, jonathan, thewhole team and all the general
managers I've had the privilegeto know and get to know over the
years, and whenever I see youguys it's just delightful, and
(38:12):
so I look forward to seeing youin London again, hopefully in
the near future and keeping inregular contact.
But I certainly want to wish you, your family, your son Jake
hopefully he wins, you know thenext big football match this
season and you coach his team aswell, so that's another special
thing about you.
But as I coach my son inbaseball and this is some of the
things that you and I haveconnected on over the years, but
, yeah, malcolm, real greatpleasure to have this friendship
(38:34):
and connection with you and Icertainly look at you as one of
the great leaders in thisindustry and I'm sure many
people who have listened to thiswill go and find you on
LinkedIn to be able just tounderstand and see the things
that you share.
And then also we check out redcarnationcom and have the
privilege, if they haven'talready, to stay at a red
carnation hotel, um, butdefinitely, if you're going to
(38:54):
London, rubin's and hotel 41, um, very special places to stay.
But yes, thank you again,malcolm, for being here.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Thank you, dan, great opportunity and thank you very
much for for giving me a bit ofa platform for a short time.
Come on, I'll talk about myhotels and red carnation hotels.
You're right, I'm on linkedinand I'm also on on the red
carnation website and those ofthe hotels.
Please, anyone in london reachout to me.
Anyone heading scotland ways,reach out me for, uh, anything I
do for them in edinburgh.
Uh, and thanks for all thesports tips you've given me over
(39:22):
the years.
It's amazing how americansports are very similar to
british sports and just, you'rea few years ahead.
So I just take it and reinventit in the football world.
To take your baseball advice,reinvent it in the football
world.
And we're OK on a Saturdaymorning, so it's all good.
And the other thing is, I'msure that everyone does know
what you look like and so whenthey see the picture there'll be
(39:42):
no problem.
But for anyone that doesn'tknow what you look like and
certainly don't know what likewhen you see the picture you'll
be the one in trousers thanks somuch, malcolm, real pleasure.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
I look forward to everyone checking out that photo
and maybe at some point we cando kilts together brilliant.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
I look forward to that day next year next year.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Thanks dan take care everyone thanks so much for
joining us on this very firstepisode of season two of our
special hospitality series inpartnership with forbes travel
guide.
I hope you enjoyed thisdiscussion with malcolm hendry
from Hotel 41 and the Rubens atthe Palace.
As you heard, he has a veryinspiring story to tell and many
valuable insights.
So thank you again, malcolm,for joining us.
(40:19):
I'm so glad we were able tomake this happen and to kick off
the series with you.
Now we're going to be launchingnew episodes every Thursday for
the next 10 weeks.
You'll be able to find these onTravelTrendsPodcastcom, on
Spotify, on Apple and the ForbesTravel Guide team will be
sharing them in theirnewsletters and on social
channels as well.
(40:39):
We'll be sure to put out clipsand highlights, because we have
some great video highlights.
So make sure that you check outboth of our social channels.
At Forbes Travel Guide and atTravel Trends Podcast, we're on
Instagram, youtube and LinkedIn,and then next week we're
actually going to have a fellowCanadian.
Her name is Sarah McIntosh, butshe is the hotel manager of the
(41:00):
Mayborn Beverly Hills.
You have to stay tuned for thatconversation, because we talk
about the White Lotus, the showthat we're all obsessed with,
and then we're going to continuewith a number of fascinating
individuals from all over theworld.
We're going to have themanaging director of the very
first Carinthia Hotel in NewYork.
(41:22):
Pradeep Raman, is going to joinus, and that was an exceptional
conversation.
We are going to havePierre-Louis Renaud, who is
based in Cannes, the CarltonCannes Hotel, and one of my
favorites, marc Basalago, who isrunning the Waldorf Astoria in
the Seychelles.
But that is just a glimpse ofthe number of people that are
(41:42):
going to be joining us over thenext several weeks.
So make sure that you are alsosigned up to receive our monthly
newsletters atTravelTrendsPodcastcomcom and
we'll send a summary around ofall the latest special
hospitality series.
So make sure that you registerfor that and on the streaming
platform of your choice.
And until next time, safetravels.
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